Florida State returned to the practice fields for its fourth day of fall camp on Thursday.

The team was in shells (shoulder pads and shorts) but the contact ramped up with Nole Drills at the start of practice.

Nole Drills feature an offensive player at three levels (an offensive lineman, a tight end, and a wide receiver) blocking a defensive player (a defensive lineman, a linebacker, and a defensive back) as the running back tries to get past all three levels.

It creates a lot of competition between the two units, and gets the practice started off with a bang.

"I’ve been pleased. So far, so good. We’ve rolled right back into fall camp."

Offense

FSU continues to work on the "turbo regular" drill, where the offense runs through plays as fast as possible, and they have a certain time limit that the ball has to be snapped after each play. If it runs out, the drive starts over.

Quarterback Deondre Francois looked sharp again through position drills and did a very good job when working with the tight ends, running backs, and wide receivers in pass routes. We didn't get to see any 1-on-1s, but Francois looked the best of the three quarterbacks.

Bailey Hockman took the first reps with the quarterbacks during the turbo drill, but didn't have the best day. His accuracy wasn't as sharp as it had been the previous three days.

James Blackman didn't have the best day once again. He missed a lot of throws, and really looked ruffled at times.

Running back Cam Akers took one rep at quarterback with a short touchdown toss against air. FSU head coach Willie Taggart laughed and got him out of the quarterback line.

I was very impressed with true freshmen wide receiver D'Marcus Adams and Keyshawn Helton for the second straight day. Those were the two receivers that I thought would struggle to find playing time this year, but both have looked very good working out of the slot.

They were both praised for their route running by FSU wide receivers coach David Kelly.

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True freshman Jordan Young has all the athleticism in the world, but he's got to refine his route running. Kelly pulled him aside a couple times to tell him that he was rounding off a route or didn't reach the right depth. He did make a couple of nice grabs during the part of practice I was able to see.

Warren Thompson and Tre'Shaun Harrison both looked very solid as well.

I was very impressed with how quickly the receivers have adapted to the speed of the system and their ability to line up correctly in the turbo drill.

Tamorrion Terry looked like he was able to go completely after being limited with a calf injury for the last two practices. He made a fantastic catch in the back of the end zone right before the media viewing period ended.

Nyqwan Murray also looks completely healthy.

At tight end, I was very impressed with Alexander Marshall. He blocked well during Nole Drills, and then had a couple of nice catches when the offense was working in the red zone.

Akers looked like the feature guy at running back with multiple runs that broke through all three levels. Khalan Laborn had a really nice run. His jump cut completely faked out the defender and he was able to race past the linebacker and defensive back.

True freshman Anthony Grant also had a nice run where he was able to make it past all three levels.

Defense

Zaquandre White moved from running back to linebacker this fall, and he's already making plays. White looked very fluid running through the drill and showed off some nice instints.

FSU defensive tackles coach Odell Haggins spent a lot of time working with Ja'Len Parks and Marvin Wilson on hand placement against offensive linemen. They worked a lot on making sure the offensive lineman wasn't able to get a hold of them.

Wilson continues to look better and better as he recovers from the MCL injury he suffered during the spring.

Emmett Rice is still a long way from being fully recovered from his ACL injury that he suffered against Southern Miss last December. He's practicing, but he doesn't look any where near as fluid as he did before the injury.

Special teams

FSU spent a lot of time working on punting during Thursday's practice.

Helton, Harrison, Murray, Levonta Taylor, Gavin, and Isaiah Bolden were all rotating in at the position with expected started D.J. Matthews (back) sidelined.

The returners were doing the drill where they had to catch the punt with one ball already in their hands. Nyqwan Murray was the only returner to try it with two balls, and he was successful.

Absent/Injured

Defensive tackle Cedric Wood, defensive end Tre Lawson, and defensive end Adam Torres were not observed at practice.